


ephemeral

by mugen



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst With A Bittersweet Ending, Birthday, First Meetings, Gen, Ghosts, I'm sorry my birthday fic is sad, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Past Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-11
Updated: 2017-11-11
Packaged: 2019-01-31 16:20:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12685587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mugen/pseuds/mugen
Summary: Boy meets boy. But they don’t fall in love.A little story about train stations and flickering ghosts.





	ephemeral

**Author's Note:**

> I finished this fic in January I just never got around to post it. I'm sorry I wrote a sad birthday fic neither of them deserve this

Kenji meets Tadashi on his birthday. Kenji is exhausted but content, filled with pleasant memories of the surprise birthday party his teammates has thrown him. The train station is too dark, too cold and too quiet, but he doesn’t notice anything amiss. Not at first, not even when the only person on the platform is a boy his age, still in his uniform at 11 pm on a Saturday.

He looks pale. Not his face, but his entire existence, the washed-out color of his gakuran, his dark hair, his gray shoes. The neon lights flicker above them and for a split second it seems like the boy’s silhouette blurs. Kenji rubs his eyes. He must be more tired than he thought.

There’s something in the way the boy stands, so perfectly still as if frozen in time that compels Kenji to speak up.

“Hey there,” Kenji calls.

_Hey there, hey there_ , his voice echoes. Kenji winces. It sounds like he wants to hit on him. He should have kept his mouth shut.

The boy jumps, and whips his head in Kenji’s direction. His expression shows surprise, but there’s a definite sadness lurking underneath. Kenji forces a smile. He’s aiming for a friendly one, and desperately hopes he doesn’t look like a creep who hits on people late at night at a deserted train platform.

“You okay?” Kenji asks.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” the boy says with a small but fake smile plastered on his face. “Thanks for asking I guess?”

Maybe Kenji is too tired to think straight. Maybe there’s something in this miserable train station and this lonely-looking stranger. He opens his big mouth again.

“That’s bullshit,” Kenji blurts out. “You’re not.”

He looks uncomfortable, but Kenji presses on: “You know, sometimes it’s easier to talk to a complete stranger.”

The boy looks away. With shoulders hunched, he stares at his feet and kicks an invisible rock away. Kenji doesn’t move closer to him, he plops onto the bench instead. Kenji is bundled up in a winter coat and a fuzzy scarf, but the boy is only in his school uniform. He has no idea why the kid isn’t cold when the November weather this year is unusually harsh. The forecast even says there is going to be snow next week.

Kenji pulls his phone out of his pocket to checks the time. 11:04. He double checks it, just to make sure. He could swear more time has passed.

“Today’s my birthday,” the boy offers, but he doesn’t look up.

Kenji has never met anyone who was born on the same day as him.

“No way! Mine too.”

It comes out louder than he wanted, but the boy cracks a lopsided smile. Kenji can only see his profile, but that’s definitely a smile.

“What’s your name? I’m Kenji.”

“Tadashi.”

“Aren’t you cold?” Kenji asks, because _dammit_ he’s curious. The boy turns to him, and flashes him a strange smile.

“No. Not anymore.”

A shiver runs down Kenji’s spine which has nothing to do with the weather. His eyes dart from the boy— _Tadashi_ —to the clock on the platform, its hands stuck on 11:04. The ETA of the next train is still three minutes. _Why haven’t he checked that? Why haven’t he paid more attention?_

“The train won’t come,” Tadashi says and Kenji wants to bolt. “It never comes.”

Kenji has never believed in ghosts. The ghosts in urban legends and horror stories are always malicious and vindictive. There is nothing that screams evil in Tadashi, he just looks sad. Maybe real ghosts are like that?

“Are you real?” Kenji asks. He’s more than aware that’s a stupid question.

Tadashi flickers out of existence a few times. Kenji tries not to stare but where else could he look other than the blurry ghost boy in front of him?

“Real enough,” Tadashi says when his form settles. Kenji can’t tell if that’s supposed to be a joke or not.

“Are you always stuck here?” Kenji blurts out. “Shit. Sorry,” he apologizes immediately, in case his question is offensive. Pissing off a ghost is not high on his priority list.

“No,” Tadashi replies, shaking his head. “It’s just for today.”

“Because of your birthday?” Kenji asks tentatively. He wants to know more, but he doesn’t want to upset him.

“Sort of. It’s my deathday as well.”

Oh.

_Oh, no_.

“I’m sorry.”

“Not your fault. It’s not anyone’s fault, really.”

Hearing this hurts Kenji more than he’s expected. He jumps to his feet.

“Come with me.”

“What?”

“Come with me. Maybe you can leave this place if I do.”

“I don’t think that’s how this… whatever _this_ is, works.”

Kenji marches up to Tadashi and grabs his wrist. He kind of expects grabbing thin air, but Tadashi is more or less tangible. He’s freezing cold which makes Kenji shiver, but he doesn’t let go. Tadashi opens his mouth to say something, but the sound of a train rushing past them makes both of them jump.

_Wait, train?_

Kenji is shoved in the back by something and he staggers toward Tadashi. They are back at the station, the real one this time. There’s a flurry of passengers who just got off the train around them. Kenji grins.

“It worked!”

There’s a small, sincere smile on Tadashi’s face and it lights up his face. Kenji releases his wrist.

“I can stay for a little while,” he offers, but Tadashi shakes his head.

Kenji cranes his neck to look at the clock above them. 11:22. They are alone on the platform again, but the the next train’s ETA counts backwards just fine.

“Can other people see you?” Kenji whispers. In any case, he doesn’t want to get stared at.

“Yes. They don’t necessarily notice me, but if they look at you, they’ll see me. You’re not talking to thin air, don’t worry about that.”

“Are you always at this station?”

Tadashi nods.

“I have a friend,” he offers. Kenji is kind of taken aback by the fact that he shares without prompting. “He’s the little brother of a classmate. We’re almost the same age now. It’s strange.”

The train arrives before Kenji can say anything to that.

“Visit me sometime, okay?” Tadashi asks.

“Definitely.”

They part with two identical little waves.

Kenji sinks into a seat next to the door and rests his head against the handlebar. He stares out of the window above the heads of three teenage girls. This is definitely not how he has thought the rest of his evening would go.

The next stop brings a lot of passengers. There’s a group of middle aged men and two elderly ladies chattering in hushed voices. Next to Kenji stands a cute boy in a black uniform. _How many high schools use gakuran as their boys uniform?_

He mentally goes through his schedule for next week: he’s babysitting his little cousin on Tuesday and he has to tutor Koganegawa on Thursday. Monday is long practice day and he has promised Aone he’ll go watch that movie his small friend from Karasuno recommended on Friday. Wednesday after practice, he thinks, he can come and visit Tadashi.

When the little old ladies get off the train the cute guy sits next to him. Too bad it’s right before he has to get off the train.

Kenji’s too tired to think of anything witty so he forgoes flirting with him, even though he kind of wants to. Maybe he’ll see him again. He kind of looks familiar anyway.


End file.
